It was 11:37 last night when the email came in — a 12-megabyte behemoth from Panini America NHL Brand Manager Chris Barr that was filled with the first glorious glimpses of 2011-12 Dominion Hockey’s pre-packout process.

Indeed, while most of the hockey collecting world is still abuzz with Panini America’s penultimate product of the 2011-12 NHL season (Prime Hockey), Barr and Product Development Director Karvin Cheung have had to turn their undivided attention to the company’s final product of the season (Dominion Hockey).

To be sure, this year’s Dominion has some huge skates to fill. Not only must it follow last year’s impressive maiden release; it also has to follow last month’s explosive premiere of Prime. But if there’s one thing we learned from Dominion’s 2010-11 rookie season it’s that the product knows how to pack a punch.

And this year, Dominion is guaranteed to deliver an even bigger impact thanks to the addition of Mr. Hockey himself, the legendary Gordie Howe. So before we get to the images attached in that aforementioned email from Barr (which we’ll begin leaking out this weekend), I wanted to share some pictures I took a month or so ago after Howe returned his hallowed first autographs for 2011-12 Dominion Hockey to Panini America HQ.

Enjoy this historic sneak peek, and stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance in the coming days for more awe-inspiring Dominion previews.

If the release would have been two months earlier I would consider it to be a 2011-12 product. To me this (as well as Prime) is a 12-13 product (unfortunately). I am wondering why it’s so hard to bring out a product in time.